Organized crime: the Saguenay police and the Sûreté du Québec arrive in the bars

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A joint police operation between the Sûreté du Québec and the Saguenay City Police Service is taking place this weekend in the region. The agents tour licensed establishments in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.

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The Saguenay Police Department and the Sûreté du Québec visited licensed establishments in the region in order to send a strong message to people involved in organized crime.

The operation took place simultaneously in several regions of Quebec. Hundreds of SQ police officers are sent to municipal police forces in Quebec to put an end to the violent conflict between street gangs and the Hells Angels.

According to the spokesperson for the Sûreté du Québec, Sergeant Hugues Beaulieu, the message to be sent is clear: there is no tolerance for violence.

There are two objectives to this mission. It's telling organized crime that the mischief must stop immediately, he explains. We also want to send a message to the population that their safety is important to us.

The team was made up of patrol officers and specialized investigators. Some of them are part of squads based in Montreal, such as the Organized Crime Division, the National Squad for the Repression of Organized Crime (ENRCO) and ;squads linked to the CENTAURE national strategy against firearms. Other partners are already united in the Regional Mixed Squads (ERM).

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Police forces visited many of the licensed establishments in Saguenay and Lac-Saint-Jean. Bars are under their radar, since they are places where illicit activities, such as drug trafficking, can take place. Certain places and individuals are therefore targeted.

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The police operation also takes place simultaneously in other regions of Quebec.

According to the authorities, violent events linked to organized crime took place in Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean recently. The kidnapping of Michaël Chouinard earlier this week could be linked to drug trafficking.

The forces The order received several reports of intimidation, armed attacks, assaults or attempted murder.

We need to activate here. The latest events in the last few days are not unrelated to all this.

A quote from Hugues Beaulieu, spokesperson for the Sûreté du Québec

A command post has been set up to accommodate this major police deployment in the region.

The Sûreté du Québec invites the population to provide them with any information that could be relevant to them in the context of this operation .

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